


DAISIES IN THE MOONLIGHT! ( markhyuck oneshot )

by PEACHYJEONGIN



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, BoyxBoy, Childhood Friends, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Falling In Love, Fanfiction, Flowers, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, Gay Romance, Growing Up Together, Homosexuality, Kpop fanfiction - Freeform, Kpop idols - Freeform, LGBTQ Themes, Language of Flowers, Love Confessions, M/M, Male Homosexuality, MalexMale, NCT 2018, Nature, OT7 NCT Dream, Oneshot, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Romance, Young Love, lgbtq+, markhyuck, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 02:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19898206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PEACHYJEONGIN/pseuds/PEACHYJEONGIN
Summary: ❝ DO YOU FEEL THE SAME, WOULD YOU CALL MY NAME? ❞Lee Donghyuck and Mark Lee grow older together, navigating the twists and turns of youthful adolescence, with feelings growing fonder as the days pass them by. . .[complete]― originally posted on wattpad !





	DAISIES IN THE MOONLIGHT! ( markhyuck oneshot )

**Author's Note:**

> ― opinions and constructive criticism are always welcome, so please feel free to leave me a comment!

Mark and Donghyuck were quite the unlikely pair in all retrospects. Even when they were nothing more than elementary school children who spent the majority of their time coloring pictures, playing innocent games, and laughing hysterically at any occurrence that most people more than likely would have either snickered at lightly, or simply disregarded altogether, their lack of inherent connotation to one another was very evident. Mark, the older of the two boys, was most definitely the more mature of the two. Obviously, as he was still quite young, his level of knowledge about the world around him was quite limited. However, the six year old proved to be quite the serious young boy when a situation called for it, while Donghyuck had a hard time ever acting austere in any way, shape, or form.

The two young males shared some similarities, like their mutual love for chocolate bars, apple juice, and ham sandwiches, and their personalities were a _bit_ alike in some minor ways, but for the most part, Donghyuck and Mark acted nothing like one another. The older boy was much more level-headed, and he had a subtle confidence about him. He was very serious when it came to his education, as both of his parents pushed him to be the very best he could be academically, though not in a way that it would cause Mark too much stress. His mother, as well as his father, knew that stressing a young child out like that wasn't good for anything, so instead of pressing too hard and causing adverse reactions, they simply encouraged their son to try his very best at whatever he was doing, and if he ever happened to need some extra help, he knew to go to his parents, or to his teacher.

For his age, Mark was very responsible. He also possessed many good leadership qualities, and he was known for being a kind, helping individual. Donghyuck, however, was more along the lines of someone that the older boy would have been helping to understand the meaning of various vocabulary words. The brown haired boy didn't like to be too serious about anything, and he much preferred to laugh and joke around in order to lighten the mood of wherever he happened to be. In simple terms, Donghyuck was more along the lines of the class clown. He found a way to make a joke out of everything, and even if it wasn't all that funny, the way in which he laughed at his own jokes led those around him to perceive his words as being more amusing than they truly were. Donghyuck was a bit loud, and he could be rather obnoxious at times, but in the end you had to love him dearly because of how charming and personable the young child was.

He was the dictionary definition of a social butterfly, and he had no shortage of friends. He had a big heart, and he was extremely perceptive, especially considering he was only five years of age. Quite frankly, Donghyuck and Mark were polar opposites. The younger boy was just like the sun, -a bright, warm ball of energy that livened up any time or place. The older boy, however, was more in touch with the moon. He was confident, but also very humble, and his light was best known to shine in the times in which it was truly needed to break through the darkness. In their case, however, opposites truly did attract.

They met on the playground, such an innocent place, perfectly fitted for such a pure, youthful interaction. At the time, Donghyuck was a kindergarten student, whilst Mark was one year ahead of him in first grade. It was springtime, -Mark's most favorite time of year-, and the raven haired boy was swinging on one of the only two swings that were constructed on the school's small playground. They lived in a rather tiny neighborhood, and the place in which they got their education wasn't the most well off in terms of finances. That was exactly why the students sold various items, like kitchen wear, scented candles, and assorted types of sweets throughout each school year in the form of fundraisers.

On most days, it was hard to get a spot on one of two swings, as it was understood that whichever two people got there first would get to swing, and that was that. On that day, however, there was no one else even coming near the swing set, which Mark couldn't help but to be happy about. He very rarely got to use that particular playground structure, so the dark haired boy was more than happy to be able to do so on such a nice, pretty day. The weather was just right, -not hot, nor too cold-, and six year old Mark was quite thankful for the opportunity to swing by himself for a while, as he'd just gotten out of his daily math lesson, and all of the students at his table had been hounding him with question after question the whole duration of the class.

He liked them, and he was friends with everyone at his table, but at the same time, he wasn't fond of having so much attention and pressure on him at once. He'd managed to make it through the lesson, and everyone he'd helped was polite enough to thank him for the assistance he'd been kind enough to give them, but by the time the class went outside for recess, Mark was yearning for some alone time. He relished in the warm spring weather, humming lightly to a song that he'd heard on a movie that his mother had been watching the night before. He couldn't recall the lyrics, but the tune had stuck with him all throughout the day, and it didn't seem as if it'd be going away anytime soon.

Mark was so immersed in humming along to the tune playing on repeat in his head, as well as relishing in the lovely weather, that he almost didn't notice the presence of someone else coming to sit on the swing beside of him. It was nothing more than a coincidence as far as the older boy would later come to be concerned. . . For Donghyuck, however, it was fate.

"I'll bet that I can swing higher than you can!" The brown haired boy challenged with a friendly grin, and although the older boy had been rather satisfied with the lack of people around him at the time, he had to admit that the younger boy's aura was magnetic in so many ways.

"No way," Mark returned the devious smile that was laced with slight excitement.

How pure and simple of an interaction it was that was the beginning of something so much more. . . The beginning of something so deep, - _so plentiful_.

 _Innocent hearts and minds that would grow together, and grow fonder as the days passed them by_. . .  
  


❀  
  


Elementary school days filled with strawberry milk from tiny bottles and packets of fruit flavored gummies split between the two of them were left behind much too soon for either of their likings. Mark went off to middle school as a sixth grader, but Donghyuck couldn't yet join him in the second level of schooling, so they had to settle for spending much less time together than they'd become accustomed to. Thankfully, they didn't live very far apart, and they were lucky enough to live in an area where they could walk to one another's houses without fear of something bad happening to them on their way.

Mark and Donghyuck grew to be very, _very_ close to one another after their first chance encounter on the swing set. The older boy's parents even took their son's friend along with them on a small weekend getaway at one point, allowing the two boys to sleep in their very own hotel bed, side by side with one another. They broke down every barrier between themselves, and there was nothing left to hide for either of them. Mark was even there for Donghyuck when the younger boy's father decidedly left his wife and son in order to pursue work out of the country, only to wind up meeting and falling in love with another woman whilst he was away.

Donghyuck's mother had seen it coming, as the phone calls had been getting shorter, and the words became much less meaningful, and the daily text messages dwindled down into nothing. Of course, she didn't divulge all of the facts to her son at that time, because that would have been wildly inappropriate given the fact that Donghyuck was only in the third grade at the time of his father's betrayal.

So, all the brown haired boy truly understood was that his father wasn't around anymore, and his mother had been forced to break the news to her child that he more than likely wouldn't be returning anytime soon. That turn of events truly took a toll on Donghyuck, especially since he was so young at the time that it occurred. Clearly, his mother did her very best to be a pillar of support for her son, but at the end of the day, she was dealing with losses of her own as well. That was where Mark came into the picture in the most meaningful way.

Donghyuck had begun to feel as if it was his fault that his father abandoned he and his mother, and he expressed those feelings to Mark on more than one occasion. But, despite not being the most emotionally available child, the older boy held Donghyuck tightly, and he whispered sweet words into his ear, and he held the younger boy while he slept. He laced their fingers, and he sang the brunette to sleep, and he gave Donghyuck a shoulder to cry on when the brown haired boy needed it the most. During that rough time in the younger boy's life, Mark was there to provide the type of warmth that Donghyuck was seeking out so desperately.

His mother, try as she might, was cold for quite a bit after the sudden end of her marriage. It wasn't her fault by any means, and she truly did try her very best to give her son the support that he would undoubtedly need to get through such a bumpy time in the both of their lives. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough at some points. There were times where Donghyuck's mother just couldn't seem to fill the missing void within her child's chest, and in truth, that was heartbreaking to her in every single sense of the word.

But it was during that drought of emotional affection in which Mark stepped in to take her place. Not taking her place as a parent, per say, but rather, taking the place of someone in Donghyuck's life that would be able to show him love at a time in which the younger boy was almost _certain_ that it never existed in the first place.

After all, his father had claimed to love him and his mother more than anything else in the world, and yet it took less than a year of being away for him to replace the both of them with a new family. From what Donghyuck knew, his father had left his mother for a woman that had two, young twin daughters. Subsequently, the brown haired boy took that fact to heart a lot more than he should have, and he began to wonder if things would have gone that way if he were to have been born a girl. . .

Would it have made a difference if he could have been born as the opposite sex?

Would that have stopped his father from ripping the heart out of his mother's chest, throwing it to the dirt, and stomping on it as if it meant nothing at all to him?

Would it have been better if he were to have been born as a female; -as the daughter that his father had always wanted?

_If he were a girl. . ._  
  


❀ __  
  


The twists and turns of adolescence brought about many changes within both Mark and Donghyuck. It was only to be expected, but what was for certain was the fact that they cared deeply for one another. They were still quite young, the older of the two being fourteen, whilst the younger was thirteen. They were both _technically_ teenagers, but of course, they had a lot more growing up to do before adulthood came. They were at the ripe age of youth in which they were both aware of their attraction to people around them, but still a bit too young to fully wrap their minds around the way they were feeling.

Old enough to know what love _was,_ but still too young to really understand it. . .

But, despite the hardships that life threw their way, and the small fights that escalated into something much more horrid that they would both apologize for at the end of it, Mark and Donghyuck held on tightly to the bond that connected their hearts together. They held one another close, finding solace in one another's embrace; -finding comfort in the way that they could use one another as an escape from the outside world. As an escape from their reality.

The two boys blossomed like daisies within the other's direct sunlight, their two separate beings coming to form that beautiful flower in the place where their affections came to meet. It was fair to say that Donghyuck had lost a bit of his childhood light after the incident with his father, but with Mark's help, the younger boy had regained most of it. At thirteen, he was smiling a lot, and he was happy for the majority of the time. Of course, there was times during the night where in which his dark thoughts would prove to take over his mind and bounce around the walls of his skull incessantly until he could drown them out long enough to fall asleep, but for the most part, Donghyuck had nearly returned to his former self.

For everyone around him, it was a great relief to see him steadily regain his confidence, and his love for the world around him. It was a beautiful development, -one in which Mark was incredibly delighted to be a witness to. For a bit, he'd feared that the younger boy wouldn't ever be his old self again, and while he certainly wouldn't have cared for Donghyuck any less because of that, -it was just that he yearned for the brunette to smile more, and to be happier.

"You seem brighter these days, Hyuck," Mark noted, smiling gently over at the younger boy.

"My mom said the same a few days ago," Donghyuck mused, the corners of his lips turning upward ever so slightly, "I just hope that it stays this way."

"I think it will," the older boy replied idealistically.

"As long as you remember to take your pill every morning, and to write your thoughts down every so often so that they don't get the best of you. But, even if things don't stay as steady as they have been lately, you'll always have people around you that love you and care about you. Your mom, your other friends. . . And me, of course."

"Having people around me that care is what I think is most important," Donghyuck spoke, feeling a bit absentminded.

The night air that surrounded the two of them was extremely warm, and vibrantly green blades of grass were tickling Donghyuck's feet, as well as his ears as he laid side by side with his best friend in his back yard. It was nearing midnight, but neither of them were tired just yet, so they'd decided to go outside and look at up at the stars for a little while, -just to calm themselves down from any stress that the day might have brought forth to them.

"I mean, I think the pills work for chemical balances in the brain or whatever, and I think that journaling my thoughts every once in a while is kind of therapeutic in a way, -but having someone like you is more helpful than anything else."

Mark couldn't help but to smile. He still wasn't the best at expressing his feelings, and he wasn't one to be overly affectionate most of the time, but he had to admit that hearing Donghyuck say such a thing really made his heart flip inside of his chest. He wasn't quite aware of just how much his presence truly meant to the brunette. . .

Mark just didn't know how special Donghyuck truly thought that he was.

Silence followed the brown haired boy's statement, but it wasn't awkward in the slightest. It was incredibly comfortable, and rather comforting to be able to lie next to his very best friend and gaze up at the night sky so fondly. The expanse of inky blackness above their watching eyes was alive with raw energy. It felt friendly somehow, despite the fact that Donghyuck knew just how devoid of love their human world could feel at times.

In a way, Donghyuck looked at the stars in a special manner after his father abandoned he and his mother. He began to think that they were the promise of life in the darkness, -a sense of warmth springing from the frigid cold. It was a vastness that could bring humbleness and an eternal space to bring gratitude for the coziness of home. . .

It brought forth Donghyuck's gratitude for the place that he'd taken within Mark's two arms, because his home wasn't made of walls, or a roof, or a warm, cozy bed.

Donghyuck's home resided in the heartbeat of a boy that he'd come to love more than anyone else in the world.

 _Donghyuck's_ _home was_ _Mark_ _Lee_. . .  
  


❀  
  


After that fateful night of stargazing, Donghyuck came to understand a lot more about the feelings that were inserting themselves into each and every blood cell that was coursing throughout his entire body. At thirteen, the fuzzy, static-like feeling that had taken root within the pit of his stomach was nothing more than an annoying feeling that he could push away and into the very back of his mind without much trouble in doing so. He could blame the swirling of his unstable emotions on his hormones, and he always told himself that his pills would help him to overcome the incessantly annoying sensation that came to the forefront whenever he was in Mark's presence.

But Donghyuck wasn't just a lowly thirteen year old any longer. No, the brunette was now a sixteen year old that had grown up far too fast, and he was doing his best to grasp at any straws he could find, just praying for his childhood to remain within his sights for just a few moments longer. He couldn't help but to yearn for the days of juice boxes, playground games, and coloring sheets. Donghyuck wanted to go back to a time that he couldn't quite remember very well, but it was a time in which he could clearly remember that he was extremely happy in. He didn't know why, but he knew that he smiled much more during his young childhood days, and he wanted to return to a time in which he could feel that way once more.

". . . hey, Mark?" The younger boy looked over at the older, who was slightly tipsy, but not quite drunk from the minimal alcohol that he'd ingested at the party they'd just decided to split from.

That type of scene just didn't suit either of them very well. They'd only gone in the first place because Mark was invited by a senior student that Donghyuck was almost certain that he had a crush on. It would only make sense that he did, after all. . .

She was pretty, with a beautiful smile, bright eyes, and a gentle personality that would more than likely mesh quite well with Mark's own personality in a romantic relationship. Donghyuck couldn't blame him for feeling that way towards her. There was nothing stopping him, after all. . .

 _Nothing at all_. . .

"Do you remember when I was younger, and my dad left, and I was always wondering if he wouldn't have done that if I was born as a girl?"

Mark was silent for a few moments, as his less than sober brain was having a difficult time processing the things that the younger boy was suddenly bringing up so abruptly. That was, after all, a conversation that they'd had so, so long ago.

"I remember," the older boy answered after a short while.

"But. . . you know that that probably wouldn't have changed anything," Mark stated, moving slowly as he pushed himself back in the swing that the two of them had first come into contact with one another so long ago.

That place held so many memories, and Donghyuck had insisted that they visit it that night because he wanted to end everything in the place where it had all rightfully begun. The younger boy wanted to go back to the beginning. . .

Donghyuck wanted to feel infinite just one last time before the harsh reality of the world was to pull him out of Mark's embrace and lead him to bear the frigid weather outside of his home all alone.

"What he did had nothing to do with you, Hyuck. It was his choice, and it was his loss. You don't need people like that in your life. They don't do any good, and they'll only cause you pain in the long run. If you had to be a girl to get him to love you, then there wasn't ever any love there in the first place," Mark stated wisely, despite the fact that his thoughts felt a bit cluttered that night.

"Still. . ." Donghyuck mumbled in a voice that was so quiet that his best friend could hardly hear the words that fell from his lips, "I wish that I'd been a girl."

"You don't need to wish that," the older boy replied softly.

"You're perfect the way you are, Donghyuck. If your father was too blind to see that, and too obsessed with having a daughter to appreciate the person you are, then that's his loss; -not yours."

"It's not just about my father, Mark," the younger boy felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes as his emotions whirled within the pit of his stomach, making him feel slightly sick.

"That has something to do with it, but God. . . if only I'd been a girl, he would still be around, and my mother wouldn't have ever had to go through such a horrible heartbreak. I never would have had to feel like the world doesn't want me in it."

"Donghyuck. . . he left. I know that it hurt you, and I know that it hurts now, but thinking about what could have happened if you were born differently isn't going to change anything. It'll only make you miserable at the end of the night," Mark replied, trying his best to keep his words gentle, but firm.

Without the help of the liquid courage that Donghyuck had choked down earlier, he never would have opened his mouth in the first place. But in that moment, he didn't figure that anything could get much worse, because his pills and the journaling of his innermost thoughts weren't enough to make him feel even the slightest semblance of happiness anymore.

Oh, how the younger boy despised cold weather, but he knew deep down that he was going to wind up homeless. . .

"Mark," the brunette breathed out the older boy's name breathily as he turned his gaze towards the sky overhead, but for some reason, looking at the shimmering stars just didn't make him feel so comfortable anymore.

Instead, they made him feel homesick.

"I wish that I was born as the girl you deserve."

Mark couldn't wrap his mind around those words in any way. They made him feel even more dizzy than he was already feeling, and the crack in the younger boy's voice pulled at his heartstrings in an achingly painful way. The older boy wanted to see Donghyuck be happier. . . this wasn't at all what he'd been hoping for. It was the exact opposite of that, because he could plainly hear the despair and the desperation dripping from every last syllable that fell from Donghyuck's tongue and slipped past his lips.

"If I was born a girl, the feelings that I have for you wouldn't be wrong. I could love you this way, and it would be okay. . . nobody would hate me for it, and there would be a chance that you could love me that way too. . . "

". . . nobody can tell you that you're wrong for your feelings," Mark stated softly.

"But you still don't love me, Mark," Donghyuck replied, readying himself to the very best of his ability to suffer the same type of heartbreak that his mother had been forced to go through.

"If I didn't love you, I wouldn't have stayed for this long, Hyuck," the older boy replied.

"I've been here since we were just little kids. If I didn't love you, and if I didn't care, I wouldn't have stayed. . . but look where we are, Donghyuck."

"You might _love me,_ but you're not _in love with me_. You don't want to hold my hand, or wake up next to me, or kiss me, or spend the rest of your life with me. . . it's just _not the same_ ," the brunette whispered.

"I'm not a girl, - _I'm a boy_ -, and that's why you'll never love me that way."

"I never said anything like that," Mark stated.

"You're assuming things on your own again, Hyuck. . . don't you remember what happens when you do that?"

"Of course I remember," the younger boy replied, feeling slightly bitter.

"But I'm not just assuming things this time, Mark. I know that you don't like boys, and that you're not gay. . . and I'm not a girl, so you'll never love me like I am one."

". . . you're right, Donghyuck," the older boy responded softly.

"I don't like boys. But you're not _boys_ ; -you're _Donghyuck_. You're my best friend, and I _do love you_."

"Then kiss me," the brunette challenged, thinking that he already had everything figured out.

Genuinely, he thought that he knew where everything was going to go from there. He thought that Mark wouldn't kiss him, and that he would take that as the final rejection of blossoming romance.

Plucking the petals of an unsuspecting daisy within his mind. . .

_He loves me. . ._

_He loves me not. . ._

The older boy swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as the younger boy's request sunk in. It laid barren on his skin for a moment or two, and when Mark met Donghyuck's waiting gaze, the buzz of the alcohol seemed to be droned out, and the raven haired boy could have sworn that he felt stone cold sober.He couldn't truthfully say that he'd never felt anything more than simple friendship toward the brown haired boy. If he stated such a thing, it would have been nothing more than a blatant lie.

It had become something so much more than friendship so, so long ago. Mark couldn't necessarily pinpoint the exact time in which the change had happened, but it had happened so long ago that he couldn't even begin to vividly remember a time in which his heart hadn't been connected to Donghyuck's. In more ways than one, it felt they they were one in the same, as odd as that sounded to the older boy, even within his own mind.

It felt as if they were thriving off of the same heartbeats, and taking the same breaths of air. It felt like he and Donghyuck were far beyond just being in sync like normal best friends. . . there simply wasn't anything normal about either of them. The nights that they'd slept side by side with one another all came rushing back, almost in the blink of an eye. The nights in which Mark had watched over his best friend fondly, staying awake for a bit after the younger boy had fallen into a peaceful sleep, staying alert for a bit longer just in case Donghyuck were to be awakened by a bad dream.

Holding the brown haired boy close to him, sharing body heat despite being covered by blankets. Donghyuck's soft breathing fanning over the skin of Mark's neck and their limbs wrapped around one another like that of lovers. . .

Time seemed to freeze, almost as if the Earth itself had stopped to watch what Mark was going to be doing next. The raven haired boy took a quick breath in, bringing his face closer to his best friend's. . . his best friend that would undoubtedly prove to be something so much more if he were to move any closer. . .

The older boy paused for a moment, as he wasn't quite sure if connecting their lips was the right thing to do. There was nothing stopping him, but at the same time, Mark just didn't know if it would be better that way for the both of him. Would he truly be able to make Donghyuck happy in the long run? Would his love be enough to last them the rest of their own personal infinity?

Wild minds trapped inside of insecure bodies. . .

Would it ever prove to be enough?

Mark took a shot in the dark; -one that lit Donghyuck up from the inside out. Their lips met for the very first time, and despite the fact that neither of them had ever been kissed before, each of them was quite certain that it wouldn't ever get better than theirs. Their senses were alive, and euphoria was flooding their veins.

That night, Donghyuck's heart began to bleed in all the colors of the rainbow, and Mark's fingertips felt like brushstrokes against his skin. Whispers began to sound like the sea, and each syllable that fell from either of their lips sounded just like their souls calling out to them.

That was the night that Mark became certain, because the swirls of Donghyuck's irises began to reflect the entirety of the cosmos, and the older boy thought that if he stared long enough that he could find all the answers of the universe hidden away behind the gentle curve of eyes and the way the younger boy squinted when he laughed.

In the older boy's eyes, Donghyuck's hair began to look like a field of wild daisies that Mark's fingers ached to run through, and the brunette's lips tasted of fresh strawberries that bled into wine that the raven haired boy could have sipped from endlessly.

". . . I may not love boys," the older boy whispered softly as his thumb alighted the skin of the younger boy's cheek like that of a rose petal clinging to light spring rain.

"But I _do_ love you."

_He loves me. . ._

_He loves me not. . ._

_**He loves me.** _


End file.
